Brassieres



March 15, 1955 o c sc o 2,703,886

I BRASSIERES Filed Oct. 5, 1954 INVENTOR Jae/r J. Lo Case/'0 United States Patent O 2,703,886 BRASSIERES Jack J. Lo Cascio, Bayonne, N. J., assignor to Even-Pol Foundations, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 5, 1954, Serial No. 460,293

3 Claims. (Cl. 2-42) This invention relates to new and useful improvements and structural refinements in brassieres and, as its principal object, the invention concerns itself with a novel arrangement of the front section, including the breast cups, of the brassiere, whereby the same is better adapted to properly support and mold the breasts without sacrificing comfort and freedom on the part of the wearer.

Specifically, an important feature of the invention resides in the provision of a pair of substantially segmentshaped panels at adjacent inner edges of the breast cups, which panels are disposed in a criss-crossed or overlapped relation and facilitate a certain limited amount of relative movement between the breast cups, which movement would not be possible if the breast cups were rigidly connected together, as by conventional means.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of other panels at the lower edges of the breast cups, to which the lower end portions of the aforementioned criss-crossed panels are secured, whereby forces acting upon the criss-crossed panel of either breast cup are transmitted to the bottom panel below the other cup and are thereby equalized from one side of the vertical medial line of the front section to the other.

A further important feature of the invention resides in the provision of elastic side panels at the outer side edges of the breast cups, which coact with the aforementioned bottom panels and the criss-crossed panels in shaping the breast cups so as to properly support and mold the breasts.

With the above more important objects and features in view and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention resides in the arrangement of parts and details of construction substantially as shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters of reference are employed to designate like parts and wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention in use;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the invention per se;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary elevational view illustrating the inside of the front section of the brassiere;

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 4-4 in Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 5--5 in Figure 2.

With reference now to the accompanying drawing in detail, the brassire is designated generally by the reference numeral and embodies in its construction a front section 11 and a pair of side sections 12. The latter extend around the sides to the back of the garment where they are separably connected together by any conventional means and it is to be also noted that the side sections 12 are preferably formed from elastic material which is yieldable circumferentially of the body.

The front section 11 includes a pair of spaced breast cups 13, the upper portions 13a of which may be formed from sheer or netted material while the lower portions 13b are formed from fabric, or any other suitable cup construction may be employed.

The front section 11 also includes a pair of bottom panels 14 which are stitched to the lower edges of the respective breast cups, it being observed that the adjacent inner edges of the breast cups as well as of the panels 14 are spaced transversely apart.

However, a pair of tapered, substantially segmentshaped center panels 15 are disposed between and stitched to the adjacent inner edges of the respective breast cups sis "ice

2 and associated bottom panels 14, the center panels 15 being criss-crossed or mutually overlapped as shown and the center panel of each breast cup having its lower end portion secured to the bottom panel 14 of the other cup, as will be presently explained.

The center panels 15 have outer side edges 16 of their upper portions stitched to the breast cups 13, while the outer side edges 17 of the lower portions of the panels 15 are stitched to the inner end edges of the bottom panels 14. Moreover, the bottom edge portions 18 of the panels 15 are stitched together at the lower edge of the front section 11, while the inner lower end edge 19 of the center panel 15 of each cup is stitched to the inner end edge of the bottom panel 14 of the other cup. However, the inner side edges 20 of the upper portions of the panels 15 are freely overlapped, so as to afford a certain limited amount of movement between the two breast cups of the brassiere.

It is to be noted that the center panels 15 extend along the inner edges of the breast cups in an upwardly divergent relation substantially to the apices of the cups and form the inner side portions of the pockets which the cups afiord. It will be also observed that the inner end edges of the bottom panels 14 and the edges 17, 19 of the panels 15 secured thereto are spaced apart to opposite sides from the vertical medial line of the front section and are substantially in alignment with the center lines of the cups.

in order to safeguard against any possibility of this movement becoming excessive, the two overlapped center panels 15 may be connected together at one or more mutually spaced points, such as for example, by stitches 21 which, if desired, may be equipped with suitable ornaments or simulated buttons 22. It is to be understood, however, that while the stitches 21 serve to connect the overlapped panels 15 together, such points of connection are relatively small and spaced apart. Thus, the stitches 21 facilitate a limited amount of movement in the structural connection between the two breast cups and, at the same time, prevent such movement from being excessive.

To assist the center panels 15 and the bottom panels 14 in shaping the breast cups 13 so as to properly support and mold the breasts, a pair of elastic side panels 23 of a substantially triangular or segment-shaped configuration are stitched to the outer side edges of the respective breast cups and form the outer side portions of the pockets which the cups afford. The lower edges 24 of these side panels and the outer edges 25 of the bottom panels 14 are stitched to the side sections 12, as will be clearly apparent.

The side panels 23 are preferably yieldable obliquely of the front section 11 from the breast cups 13 to the side sections 12, while the bottom panels 14 are preferably constructed of non-elastic material.

The center panels 15 are preferably formed from elastic material yieldable obliquely of the front section 11 from the breast cup on one side to the bottom panel 14 of the breast cup on the other side. Moreover, the center panels 15 are preferably formed from elastic material which is doubled upon sitself along the aforementioned edges 20 so that a substantial portion of each center panel is composed of two superposed layers or thicknesses of material. In this manner the center panels are substantially reinforced and finishing of the edges 20 is unnecessary.

As will be observed, the brassiere is provided with the usual shoulder straps 26, if so desired.

While in the foregoing there has been described and shown the preferred embodiment of the invention, various modifications may become apparent to'those skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Accordingly, it is not desired to limit the invention to this disclosure and various modifications may be resorted to, such as may lie within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a brassiere, a front section comprising a pair of spaced breast cups, a pair of bottom panels secured to the lower edges of the respective cups, said bottom panels having inner end edges spaced apart to opposite sides from the vertical media line of said front section and substantially in alignment with the center lines of the cups, and a pair of substantially segment-shaped mutually overlapped center panels secured to the inner and bottom edges of the respective cups and having lower end edges secured to the inner end edges of the bottom panels substantially in alignment with said center lines, said center panels extending along the inner-edges of the cups in an upwardly divergent relation substantially to the apices of the respective cups and forming the inner side portions of the pockets afforded by the cups.

2. The structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said center panels are formed from elastic material yieldable obliquely from the vertical medial line of said front section toward the apices of said cups.

3. The structure as set forth in claim 1 together with a pair of side sections secured to outer side edges of the front section, and a pair of substantially triangular outer side panels secured to outer side edges of said cups and forming the outer side portions of the pockets afforded by the cups, said outer side panels having downwardly convergent lower end portions interposed between and secured to the front section and the respective side sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS s t. t 

